528 AMPHIBIA. 



ANOURA, OR TAILLESS AMPHIBIA. 



This group comprises the Frogs, the Toads, with their allied 

 forms, constituting, in the whole, a numerous assemblage. In 

 these animals, the form of the body is short and broad. During 

 the tadpole state, there are no limbs, but a long compressed tail, 

 is their organ of locomotion, (Plate XIII. figs. 1, 2, 3, 4;) in this 

 state it is called a tadpole ; subsequently fourlirnbs are developed, 

 (figs. 5 and 6,) and the tail disappears, (fig. 8.) The skull is very 

 short and broad. Ribs are wanting ; the seven or eight-anterior 

 vertebrae only are distinct ; the tympanic orifice is open ; the 

 breathing is at first effected by gills, and afterwards by lungs. 

 Warm and temperate, but moist climates are the localities most 

 favorable to the Anourous Amphibia. 



SECOND FAMILY. Ranida, (Lat. rana, a frog.) FROGS. 



In this family of tailless Batrachians, the posterior legs are 

 long and formed for leaping ; the hind toes are webbed ; teeth 

 are found both on the upper jaw and on the palate ; the mouth 

 is wide ; the tongue folded back, broad, soft, fleshy, and notched ; 

 the eyes are prominent, and they are protected by a movable 

 membrane well adapted to guard them against those injuries to 

 which, from the Frogs mode of life, they would be peculiarly 

 liable. In the tailless Frogs, which are nocturnal in their habits, 

 the pupil is linear. The ears are extremely small, yet by the 

 answers which the Frogs make to each other, even at a great 

 distance, by croaking, they show that they have powers of hear- 

 ing which meet their wants. To enter into a more minute des 

 cription of these harmless, and in gardens, highly useful Reptiles, 

 seems unnecessary. All are familiar with their croak, their 

 mode of leaping and swimming, their bright eyes and their col- 

 oring. The Frogs, like other Reptiles, pass the colder months of 

 the year in a state of torpor, buried deep in the mud at the bottom 

 of ponds or sluggish streams, and so mingled together as to form 

 almost a continuous mass. In the spring they emerge, when 

 they begin their singing, which has some meaning besides mere 

 noise, each male frog having a different note from his neighbor. 



The RanidsR are more or less accustomed to dwell in the 

 water or its neighborhood, voraciously consuming the larger in 

 sects, and especially slugs, which are a favorite food. It is, 

 therefore, the opinion of some, that instead of being wantonly 

 and cruelly destroyed, they ought to be protected. The Frog 



